Well done the Liberal Democrats Brecon and Radnorshire may have looked like an inevitable Liberal Democrat gain - we have held the seat for 20 of the past 34 years - but an enormous amount of work went into winning. Even to force the by-election after the sitting Conservative MP was committed of fraudulent expense claims required us to collect the signatures of more than 10 per cent of the constituency's electors. In the event we achieved 19 per cent. Then we flooded Brecon and Radnorshire with workers for the six weeks of the by-election campaign and overturned a Tory ...
In the 10 days or so since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, the Conservatives have risen in the opinion polls. This is almost entirely because some traditional Tory voters who had defected to the Brexit Party have drifted back because of Johnson's Brexit pledge — though Jeremy Corbyn's terminal uselessness as Leader of the Labour [...]
Second paragraph of third chapter:Visitors to Berlin, over a million of them in 1913, found a city full of nervous, unchannelled energy; a city that wrapped itself in the mantle of the German Reich but which was, inside, still the provincial capital of Prussia; a city which was reckoned the most modern in Europe, an industrial powerhouse and a capital of science; a city on parade. Their reactions were mixed. Some saw a metropolis more suggestive of the future than any other, more urban and more modern, the very expression of the global economic force which the German Empire had ...
What lessons can Remain parties draw from the Brecon by-election?
The pound has hit a 2-year low and is the worst performing currency this year and there are still strong headwinds ahead for sterling, particularly if a No Deal Brexit ensues. The circumstances facing the UK economy and the exchange rate remind me more about country risk scenarios that I faced for dodgy Emerging or Transition Economies, not a developed and mature economy such as the UK. All bar our more mature colleagues will have no memory of the dark days of the IMF led bailout of the UK in the 1960s. It's worth therefore sketching out what the economic-cum-financial ...
Can I shock you? The North doesn't end at Manchester and Leeds. For all the bluff and bluster of a 'northern powerhouse' we heard when the Tories at least pretended to care, the investment mainly fell around those two main cities. It is true, they are seeing growth, prosperity and attracting young professionals and graduates to the city as businesses prosper and companies choose to open up northern hubs. However, the more rural areas in the North West (particularly West Cumbria) and the North East are seeing their regions stagnate and more alarmingly an exodus of young people who see ...
The Lib Dems did it. In what may turn out to be an era defining by-election, the Liberal Democrats took back Brecon and Radnorshire yesterday. Here are my main takeaways: The Lib Dem surge is real. But it is still fragile at this point Some pundits are pointing to the fact that this was a Lib Dem seat for years and years, i.e. what's the big deal. The Lib Dems got 29% of the vote here in the 2017 general election; 43% yesterday. They got almost 2,000 more votes out of an electorate that had shrunk by 10,000 due to ...
Some initial thoughts on the election of Jane Dodds to Parliament, taking Brecon and Radnorshire from the Conservatives: What's the significance of @DoddsJane's victory? It is another MP for Remain in the Commons. Look at the closeness of some previous votes: that could well matter. — Mark Pack [IMG: đś] (@markpack) August 2, 2019 Now let's hope we get the chance to do the same again in Sheffield Hallam.
So said a very smiley Jo Swinson as she gave an interview to Sky News this morning from the gorgeous town of Builth Wells. I had already decided to write a piece with that title this morning. "This is part of a trend of the Lib Dems winning again," says [IMG: đ] [IMG: đ] [IMG: đ] party leader @joswinson. But could they have won the by-election without the help of other parties? https://t.co/QOV8qfvrmP pic.twitter.com/1F0mYi0BbL — Sky News (@SkyNews) August 2, 2019 I seem to have given myself an authentic by-election experience. I eventually got to bed at about 4:30 and ...
When, 30 years ago as an idealistic, immigrant graduate student, someone first objected that if I "didn't like it here [in America], then [I] can just [go] back to England," I was naïve enough to take it as a challenge and tried to show the error of the argument. The result was obvious, in hindsight [...] The post On weaponising the fear of others appeared first on Radix.
Thu, 12:31: Super important thread; this is the single most important point. https://t.co/5RyMvC3EPt Thu, 12:56: RT @EtheHerring: The top image is a fictitious weather report imagining what the weather would be like in 2050 for a 2014 French TV documen... Thu, 16:05: Europe's largest public artwork to be unveiled in Belgium https://t.co/I44sCxOrvn Wow! https://t.co/lBBdA8CLeE Thu, 17:11: The Bachelorette and the Bible Thumper https://t.co/SHHm5Wq7zK I have never seen, nor do I want to see, this show.... https://t.co/ZgopuzDihI Thu, 18:01: RT @FabianZuleeg: Again Brexit debate in UK completely divorced from EU realities. EU not changing its mind on backstop/anything else. EU w... ...
Congratulations to Jane Dodds on her victory in Brecon and Radnorshire where she took the seat from the Conservatives in the by-election there yesterday. I have to confess, I did stay up for the result! It meant I was a bit bleary-eyed this morning when I was feeding the livestock. There have been some interesting responses to the result so I thought I would summarise them here: Lib Dem
All the media this morning are reporting that the fantastic Welsh Liberal Democrats victory in Brecon and Radnorshire is the start of a wider alliance of political parties committed to remaining in the EU or at the very least a people's vote on the final deal. The Mirror says that anti-Brexit parties are in talks to form more 'Remain Alliances' across the UK after the Lib Dem victory by 1,425 votes left Boris Johnson with a Commons majority of one. They add that last night's margin of victory was smaller than the votes won in 2015 by the Green Party ...
Responding to the Home Affairs select committee report into the youth violence epidemic, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said:"Youth violence is an epidemic, and the Home Affairs Committee is absolutely right to say that the Conservative Government's response is woefully inadequate. "As this report makes clear, the Government's 'Serious Violence Strategy' is neither serious nor a strategy. Tory Ministers pay lip service to a public health approach, but don't seem to even know what it means."To make matters worse, we now have Boris Johnson pledging to dramatically expand suspicion-less Stop & Search - a tactic that didn't work ...
The Liberal Democrats are this morning celebrating the election of Jane Dodds as the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire. Speaking from the by-election count, the latest Liberal Democrat MP Jane Dodds said: "34 years ago last month, Richard Livsey's victory in a by-election here sparked a Liberal revival across Wales and the UK. And today, we've done it again. "I am incredibly humbled by the support. From every walk of life and every political persuasion, people have chosen to believe in my positive liberal vision for something better. "And by backing that liberal vision, people in Brecon and Radnorshire have ...
Here are some photos, via Getty Images, from last night and this morning, showing celebrations in Brecon and Radnorshire. Scroll down to see more photos. Hover over the photo to see the full caption, or click on the photo to go to its origin on the Getty Images website. The first photo below shows Jo Swinson speaking in the constituency at 8 o'clock this morning: * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
If like me you want to oppose fracking on Altcar Moss then you can do so by using the website of Lancashire County Council (LCC) who will determine the planning application before it's Planning Committee to either agree to or oppose the fracking. The LCC planning representations form is available via this link:- The planning application number is LCC/2019/0037 and the site is ALTCAR MOSS WELLSITE, SUTTON'S LANE, GREAT ALTCAR. You'll need to put this information on the generic form that the link takes you to Lydiate Parish Council, of which I'm a member, has already objected to fracking ...
Bore da, reader. Hurrah! We won Brecon and Radnorshire. Deservedly so. A famous victory, and worthy of celebration. However, as I said on twitter last night, I have already thought of a couple of depressing angles to this by election result, and this morning those thoughts are still nagging away. So, much as I don't want to piss on anyone's bonfire (and it was really glorious seeing ecstatic Lib Dems at 3am) I feel I must sound a couple of notes of caution. 1, The tories put a literal criminal up and still nearly held it. Yes, yes, we won, ...
The Brexit party plane over Brecon and Radnorshire yesterday After an early night on Wednesday, my alarm went off at 4:50am on Thursday. I successfully managed to switch it off, disenabling the "snooze" function. So, of course, I then went back to sleep and woke up at 5:25am, leaving myself exactly 30 seconds to get dressed and into the car to meet Kirsten Johnson, North Devon PPC and LDV colleague. The Llandrindod Wells office team gave us an exceptionally well ordered and tightly-knit set of "Good morning" leaflets which we delivered very quickly. Only about seven dogs started barking. After ...
Jane Dodds MP (Photo: BBC) The Liberal Democrats have a new MP - Jane Dodds, who overturned a Conservative majority of 8,038 to win back the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency. The by-election had been called following the successful recall petition of incumbent Chris Davies. Mr Davies had pleaded guilty to claiming false expenses, but was nonetheless reselected by the Conservatives as their candidate in the by-election. Opinion polling suggested two things - that the Liberal Democrats would win but that it was likely to be close. Indeed it was. The narratives surrounding the by-election naturally focused on Brexit, but it ...
Over a prolonged period, I have received complaints about the lack of maintenance of the slopes at the west end of Scott Street and on Pentland Avenue - see below : Scott Street - west end Pentland Avenue I have raised this on numerous occasions with the City Council and the latest update I have received is from the new area environment manager and I am grateful for his helpful response and trust we will now see improvements to the situation here and also to the general grass maintenance of the Pentland area into the future : "First of all ...
If you've actually been asleep and not, like me, sat up all through the night to wait for the results, here's a summary of the overnight electoral gymnastics. Let's start with a good local by-election: Hazel Grove (@StockportMBC)@LibDems (Charles Gibson) 1401 (45.7%, +0.8%) Con 1194 (38.9%) Lab 329 (10.7%) Green 142 (4.6%) Liberal Democrat Hold! Well done to @StockportLibDem and our new councillor! pic.twitter.com/qmG5Xyrsni — ALDC (@ALDC) August 1, 2019 Jane's speech, paraphrased: People in Brecon and Radnorshire have sent a powerful message. 34 years ago a Liberal victory sparked a liberal revival. People demand better. The message from me ...
Two council by-elections on Thursday (following a City of London by-election on Tuesday), but the headlines will be dominated by Jane Dodds and her fabulous victory in the Parliamentary by-election in Wales. Brecon and Radnorshire Parliamentary by-election It's not an election campaign without wearing through a pair of shoes!! They could've at least chosen a drier day... #slightlysoggy pic.twitter.com/W3v3Uungip — Jane Dodds [IMG: đ´ó §ó ˘ó ˇó Źó łó ż] [IMG: đŞđş] [IMG: đś] (@DoddsJane) July 30, 2019
So we've done it! I will never forget that shot of Shaun Roberts and Dave McCobb on Sky News. They were smiling, and looking very smug indeed. And Jane walking in and looking so happy. It'll be a while before I stop crying. Here's the result in full: Davies C Conservative 12,401 Davies T Labour 1,680 Dodds J Liberal Democrat 13,826 Parkinson D Brexit 3381 Phillips L UKIP 242 Pink, Lily the 334 We have done it!!! Brecon & Radnorshire, result: LDEM: 43.5% (+14.3) CON: 39.0% (-9.6) BREX: 10.5% (+10.5) LAB: 5.3% (-12.5) MRLP: 1.0% (+1.0) UKIP: 0.8% (-0.6) — ...
